ICTSD Global Platform on Climate Change, Trade and Sustainable Energy

The conditions in many African countries provide a basis for a low-carbon and resource efficient path of economic growth and development, anchored in the design of investment and policy reforms focused on enhancing the livelihoods of the poor, employment creation and poverty reduction. Trade by itself is not intrinsically good or bad for sustainable development, it depends on the distribution of the gains and losses from trade among society and how trade impacts the use of natural resources and the quality of the environment in the region. Adequate environmental regulations and a long-term view of the value of natural resources and environmental services are necessary conditions to ensure sustainable growth. The environmental challenges facing many African countries currently and in the future are fundamental to economic growth and development; agriculture, fisheries and tourism are among the largest sources of employment in the region are also the most vulnerable to climate change and other environmental risks. Aid for trade can be leveraged to promote the productive capacities in African countries to identify and implement various strategies needed to curtail the negative effect of climate change on employment and develop a sound domestic analytical framework to assess the impact of trade and trade policies on the environment. Africa’s successful transition to a green economy requires an enabling environment with developed countries providing adequate technologies, financial assistance and market access.

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The WTO agreements are designed to enable economies to prosper from trade by utilizing their comparative advantage.  It is also accepted in negotiations over climate change that the market should be utilized as a tool to ensure optimal economic growth.  It is a key principle in the UNFCCC that measures to reduce climate change should not impede the capacity of developing countries to raise living standards.   The success of measures to manage the interface between the economic effects of systems to foster open trade and those to manage of the impacts of climate change thereby need to be measured by the extent to which those twin objectives are achieved and not compromised.  Much of the discussion seeking to reconcile perceived conflicts between these objectives frequently results in proposals which will entail loss of economic growth or compromise of the capacity of markets to function effectively.  World Growth has undertaken research to define strategies which ensure optimal economic results are secured, and in particular to ensure the capacity of agents in economies to build economic growth on the basis of comparative advantage is not compromised.  It has applied these principles in research commissioned on specific issues where this confluence of policy objectives is most marked, specifically land use, carbon measurement and carbon trading and access to resources

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Current approaches to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction, including target-setting and pricing mechanisms, take a production view of emissions arising from nations and regions. This production-based approach to emissions assessment underpins international processes such as the Kyoto Protocol, and is the basis for carbon-pricing and trading schemes such as the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and the recently-announced Australian emissions pricing scheme. An alternate view is that the responsibility for GHG emissions lies not with the producer, but with the final consumer of the products. This consumption view reflects the central role of demand in driving the production of goods and services, and opens new opportunities for policies and activities to minimise supply chain GHG emissions.

In a world of unequal pricing of emissions, a production-based approach impacts a range of sectors, from domestic environmental policy and carbon pricing schemes to business competitiveness concerns and the role of consumers in achieving sustainability. At the same time, the significance of embodied emissions in international trade is set to increase, raises a number of questions around impact and success of domestic environmental policy directed at reducing emissions.

This session will provide a lively debate, and a range of viewpoints, on the environmental, trade, policy, equity and business impacts of climate policy in a world of unequal emissions pricing.

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The event will discuss the range of views on how to incentivize innovation and encourage the promotion and adoption of climate friendly technologies. This will cover the role of intellectual property in general, WIPO's work to support access to its global technology databases and capacity building to support innovation and technology transfer, and the adequacy of TRIPS provisions in achieving these objectives. The discussion will critically examine the range of options put forward in the UNFCCC negotiations, both in economic and legal terms, including measures that relate to intellectual property.

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The analysis of climate change consequences on agriculture is marked by the seal of uncertainty. On one hand, how the changes in rain pattern and temperature distribution will affect yields of different crops in different countries in the long run is a very challenging exercise: the effects will not be homogenous and winners and losers will appear, but knowing who they will be is still unclear based on existing science. On the other hand, it is widely accepted that the weather will become more volatile with a higher frequency of extreme events leading to more unstable agricultural production and higher risks for farmers. Both channels, even if quite distinct, represent important challenges for policy makers that want to promote a strong food security agenda. In this context, this session discusses how trade, and trade policies, can play an important element of the adaptation strategy of countries to climate change. It will involve discussions on the long run trend of agricultural and non agricultural trade policies that can support food security in a context of uncertain future, as well as the design of trade policy mechanisms and disciplines to ensure similar objectives in a situation of accrued climate volatility.

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Preoccupation with energy security and global climate change in industrialized countries have together placed biofuels firmly on the map of global land use change. Biofuels are viewed by many as having the potential to satisfy a portion of the world’s energy demand in a sustainable way while reducing its climate impact. While this may be true under certain circumstances, a number of recent findings bring this assumption into question while simultaneously raising concerns about the social and economic costs of such a fuel transition. This panel will present findings from research carried out by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Joanneum Research, the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), the Council on Strategic and Industrial Research (CSIR), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and Profundo Economic Research. Presentations and discussions will explore the global trends in biofuel production, trade and finance, carbon accounting methods and options, local social and environmental impacts of biofuels in forest frontiers, the effectiveness of national legal and institutional frameworks and market-driven initiatives for regulating the feedstock sector, and will discuss the impacts and policy options for biofuel development in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Session's video